Warner Ray was a top-10 finisher at the state cross country meet in his first three years at Holy Innocents’

The senior appears to be a strong bet to make it four in a row in his final high school cross country season after finishing fourth with a time of 17 minutes, 12 seconds at the Region 5A meet at Our Lady of Mercy in Fairburn last Thursday.

Now, Ray will try to finish once again in the top ten in the Class A private school boys’ race at the state meet in Carrollton Saturday after finishing eighth (16:40) last year, ninth (16:55) in 2011 and eighth (16:41) in ’10.

He shone in a number of the top regular-season cross country meets this season, including running 16:14 to finish 36th at the Alexander/Asics Invitational in Douglasville Oct. 12 and 17:10 for a sixth-place showing at the Our Lady of Mercy Invitational in Fairburn Aug. 24.

“Not only has Warner rewritten the record books during his four years of varsity [cross country], he remains one of, if not the, hardest workers on the team,” Holy Innocents’ boys’ cross country coach Dunn Neugebauer said. “He is the complete package. Hopefully, he will finish top 10 in the state [Saturday] and be a four-time All-State runner for us.”

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